Mid central vowel

Mid central vowel
ə
IPA number 322
Encoding
Entity (decimal) ə
Unicode (hex) U+0259
X-SAMPA @
Kirshenbaum @
Braille ⠢ (braille pattern dots-26)
Sound
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IPA vowel chart
Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back
Close
•iy
•ɨʉ
•ɯu
•ɪʏ
•eø
•ɘɵ
•ɤo
•ɛœ
•ɜɞ
•ʌɔ
•æ
•aɶ
•ɑɒ
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open
Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded
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The mid central vowel (also known as schwa) is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ə⟩, a rotated lowercase letter e.

While the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association does not define the roundedness of [ə],[1] it is more often unrounded than rounded. The phonetician Jane Setter describes the pronunciation of the unrounded variant as follows: "[ə] is a sound which can be produced by basically relaxing the articulators in the oral cavity and vocalising."[2]

Some languages, such as Danish[3] and Luxembourgish,[4] have a mid central vowel that is variably rounded. In some other languages, things are more complicated, as the change in rounding is accompanied with the change in height and/or backness. For instance, in Dutch, the unrounded allophone of /ə/ is mid central [ə], but its word-final rounded allophone is close-mid near-front [ø̠].[5]

The symbol ⟨ə⟩ is often used for any unstressed obscure vowel, regardless of its precise quality. For instance, the English vowel transcribed ⟨ə⟩ is a central unrounded vowel that can be close-mid [ɘ], mid [ə] or open-mid [ɜ], depending on the environment.[6]

Mid central unrounded vowel

The mid central unrounded vowel is frequently written with the symbol [ə]. If precision is desired, the symbol for the close-mid central unrounded vowel may be used with a lowering diacritic, [ɘ̞]. Another possibility is using the symbol for the open-mid central unrounded vowel with a raising diacritic, [ɜ̝].

Features

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Adyghe зы  [zəː]  'one'
Albanianështë[ˈəʃtə]'is'
Armenianընկեր[əŋˈkɛɹ]'friend'
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic ?/sətwa [sətwɐ] 'winter' Most speakers. Usually raised to [ɪ] in some Tyari dialects.
Bulgarian[7] пара [ˈparə] 'steam' Possible realization of unstressed /ɤ/ and /a/ in post-stressed syllables.[7] See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan Eastern Catalan[8] amb [əm(b)] 'with' Reduced vowel. See Catalan phonology
Most Balearic speakers[8] sec [ˈsək̟] 'dry'
Central Valencian[9] poc [ˈpɒ̝kːə] 'little' Vocalic release found in final consonants. It may vary in quality.
Some Valencian speakers[10] eh tu! [ˈe ˈtuːə̯̆] 'hey you!' Extra short. Diphthongization of final /i/, /u/, /e/, and /o/ before a pause.
Chinese Mandarin 根/gēn  [kən˥]  'root' See Standard Chinese phonology
Danish Standard[11][12] hoppe [ˈhɒ̜̽b̥ə] 'mare' Sometimes realized as rounded [ɵ̞].[3] See Danish phonology
Dutch[5] renner [ˈrɛnər] 'runner' See Dutch phonology
English Most dialects Tina [ˈtʰiːnə] 'Tina' Reduced vowel; varies in quality. See English phonology
Cultivated South African[13] bird [bəːd] 'bird' May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩. Other South African varieties use a higher, more front and rounded vowel [øː~ ø̈ː].
Norfolk[14]
Received Pronunciation[15] Often transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩. It is sulcalized, which means the tongue is grooved like in [ɹ]. 'Upper Crust RP' speakers pronounce a near-open vowel [ɐː], but for some other speakers it may actually be open-mid [ɜː]. This vowel corresponds to rhotacized [ɝ] in rhotic dialects.
Indian[16] bust [bəst] 'bust' May be lower. Some Indian varieties merge /ʌ/ and /ə/ like Welsh English.
Wales[17] May also be further back; it corresponds to /ʌ/ in other dialects.
Yorkshire[18] Middle class pronunciation. Other speakers use [ʊ]. Corresponds to /ʌ/ in other dialects.
Estonian[19] kõrv [kərv] 'ear' Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɤ⟩; can be mid back [ɤ̞] or close back [ɯ] instead, depending on the speaker.[19] See Estonian phonology
German Standard[20][21] bitte [ˈbɪtə] 'please' Also described as close-mid [ɘ].[22] See Standard German phonology
Chemnitz dialect[23] Wonne [ˈʋɞ̝n̪ə] 'bliss' See Chemnitz dialect phonology
Hindustani दस/دَس [ˈd̪əs] 'ten' See Hindustani phonology
Inuit West Greenlandic[24] Allophone of /i/ before and especially between uvulars.[24] See Inuit phonology
Kabardian щы  [ɕəː]  'three'
Kashubian jãzëk [jãzək] 'language'
Kensiu[25] [təh] 'to be bald'
Limburgish[26][27][28][29] besjeemp [bəˈʃeːmp] 'embarrassed' Occurs only in unstressed syllables.[26][30][31][32] The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect.
Luxembourgish[4][33] dënn [d̥ən] 'thin' More often realized as slightly rounded [ɵ̞].[4] See Luxembourgish phonology
Macedonian к’смет [ˈkəs̪mɛt̪] 'luck' (archaic) Not considered a vowel phoneme. See Macedonian phonology
Malay Melayu [məlaju] 'Malay'
Marathi अकरा [əkˈra] 'eleven' See Marathi phonology.
Neapolitan guaglione [gwaˈʎːonə] 'boy'
Palauan tilobęd [tilobəd] 'came'
Pashto غوښه [ˈɣwəʂa] 'meat' See Pashto dialects
Piedmontese përché [pərˈke] 'why' May be realized as [a] or [ɑ] instead, depending on the variety.
Portuguese European[34] pagar [pɜ̝ˈɣaɾ] 'to pay' Often corresponds to a near-open vowel [ɐ] in Brazilian Portuguese.[35] See Portuguese phonology
São Paulo[36] cama [ˈkəmɐ] 'bed' Shorter nasal resonance or complete oral vowel in São Paulo and Southern Brazil, while nasal vowel in many other Portuguese dialects.
Southern Brazil
Some speakers[37] conviver [kũviˈveə̯ɾ] 'to coexist' Primarily in Portugal, but also stereotyped as a characteristic of the dialect of Rio de Janeiro (where [ə] for /ɐ/ is also dominant).[38]
Punjabi ਅਮਨ [əmən] 'peace'
Romanian măr [mər] 'apple' Also described as open-mid [ɜ]. See Romanian phonology
Russian это  [ˈɛt̪ə]  'this' Unstressed allophone of several vowels. See Russian phonology
Sema[39][40] akütsü [ɐ˩ kə t͡sɨ̞] 'black' Possible word-medial allophone of /ɨ/.[39][40]
Spanish Mexican pesos [ˈpesəs] 'pesos'
Swedish begå [bəˈɡoː] 'to commit' Unstressed allophone of /ɛ/, see Swedish phonology
Welsh Cymru  [ˈkəmrɨ]  'Wales' See Welsh phonology
West Frisian gewoan [ɡəˈʋoə̯n] 'normal'

Mid central rounded vowel

Mid central rounded vowel
ɵ̞
ə̹
ɞ̝

Languages may have a mid central rounded vowel (a rounded [ə]), distinct from both the close-mid and open-mid vowels. However, since no language is known to distinguish all three, there is no separate IPA symbol for the mid vowel, and the symbol [ɵ] for the close-mid central rounded vowel is generally used instead. If precision is desired, the lowering diacritic can be used: [ɵ̞]. This vowel can also be represented by adding the more rounded diacritic to the schwa symbol, or by combining the raising diacritic with the open-mid central rounded vowel symbol, although it is rare to use such symbols.

Features

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Danish Standard[3] hoppe [ˈhɒ̜̽b̥ə̹] 'mare' Possible realization of /ə/.[3] See Danish phonology
Dutch Standard Belgian[41] neus [nə̹ːs] 'nose' Also described as close-mid near-front [ø̠ː]; usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨øː⟩. Diphthongized to [ø̠ʏ̯] in the Standard Netherlandic accent.[42][43] See Dutch phonology
English Some speakers of
New England English[44] 		most [mə̹st] 'most' Diphthongized to [ə̹ə̯] before /n, t, d/; many speakers tend to merge it with /oʊ/.[44] See English phonology
French[45] je [ʒə̹] 'I' Only somewhat rounded;[45] may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɵ⟩ or ⟨ə⟩. Also described as close-mid [ɵ].[46] May be more front for a number of speakers. See French phonology
German Chemnitz dialect[23] Wonne [ˈʋə̹n̪ə] 'bliss' Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɞ⟩. See Chemnitz dialect phonology
Irish Munster[47] scoil [skə̹˕lʲ] 'school' Somewhat retracted; allophone of /ɔ/ between a broad and a slender consonant.[47] See Irish phonology
Luxembourgish[4] dënn [d̥ə̹n] 'thin' Slightly rounded; less often realized as unrounded [ə].[4] See Luxembourgish phonology
Swedish Central Standard[48] full  [fə̹lː]  'full' Pronounced with compressed lips, more closely transcribed [ə̹ᵝ] or [ɘ̞ᵝ]. See Swedish phonology

See also

References

  1. ↑ International Phonetic Association (1999:167)
  2. ↑ "A World of Englishes: Is /ə/ "real"?". Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Basbøll (2005:143)
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Gilles & Trouvain (2013:70)
  5. 1 2 Collins & Mees (2003:129)
  6. ↑ Wells (2008:XXV). The source talks about both Received Pronunciation and General American.
  7. 1 2 Ternes & Vladimirova-Buhtz (1999:56)
  8. 1 2 Recasens (1996:59–60)
  9. ↑ Saborit (2009:11)
  10. ↑ Saborit (2009:43–44)
  11. ↑ Allan, Holmes & Lundskær-Nielsen (2011:2)
  12. ↑ Basbøll (2005:57, 143)
  13. ↑ Lass (2002:116)
  14. ↑ Lodge (2009:168)
  15. ↑ Roach (2004:242)
  16. ↑ Sailaja (2009:24–25)
  17. ↑ Wells (1982a:380–381)
  18. ↑ Stoddart, Upton & Widdowson (1999:74 and 76)
  19. 1 2 Asu & Teras (2009:368–369)
  20. ↑ Kohler (1999:87)
  21. ↑ Mangold (2005:37)
  22. ↑ "John Wells's phonetic blog: ɘ". Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  23. 1 2 Khan & Weise (2013:236)
  24. 1 2 Fortescue (1990), p. 317.
  25. ↑ Bishop (1996), p. 230.
  26. 1 2 Verhoeven (2007), p. 220.
  27. ↑ Peters (2006), pp. 118–119.
  28. ↑ Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), pp. 157, 159.
  29. ↑ Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), pp. 108, 110.
  30. ↑ Peters (2006), p. 118.
  31. ↑ Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), p. 157.
  32. ↑ Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 108.
  33. ↑ Trouvain & Gilles (2009:75)
  34. ↑ Cruz-Ferreira (1995:91)
  35. ↑ Barbosa & Albano (2004:229)
  36. ↑ Produção da Fala. Marchal, Alain & Reis, César. p. 169.
  37. ↑ Lista das marcas dialetais e ouros fenómenos de variação (fonética e fonológica) identificados nas amostras do Arquivo Dialetal do CLUP (Portuguese)
  38. ↑ Ditongações do falar carioca – WordReference (Portuguese)
  39. 1 2 Teo (2012:369)
  40. 1 2 Teo (2014:28)
  41. ↑ Verhoeven (2005:245)
  42. ↑ Collins & Mees (2003:133–135)
  43. ↑ Gussenhoven (1992:47)
  44. 1 2 Wells (1982b:545)
  45. 1 2 Fougeron & Smith (1993:73)
  46. ↑ "english speech services | Le FOOT vowel". Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  47. 1 2 Ó Sé (2000)
  48. ↑ Engstrand (1999:140)

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